Artificial arm



March 9 1926. 1,576,487

H. E. HODGSON ARTIFICIAL ARM Filed August 22, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 my man W a BY 'g, 4770mm March 9 1926. I 1,576,487

H. E. HODGSON ARTIFICIAL ARM Filed August 22, 1923' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOI? M 22% A rromvss Patented Mar. 9, 1926.

' uN-rrE srAr Es HARRIETTE E. HODGSON, OITNEW YORK, Y. 1

' ARTIFICIAL ARM;

Application 'filed August 22, 1923. Serial No. 658,765.

T colt whom/it may cancer er Be 1t known that I, HAnRIn'rTn E. Hons SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, in the county and "State of New York, have'in-' vented a. new and useful Artificial Arm, of which thefollowing is a. specification:

, The object of the invention is to provide an artificial arm which shall be strong, du-

with which the user can conveniently exert a large amount ofpower in doing work.

In the accompanying drawings forming part hereof: V l

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showingthe slit in the coat and shirt sleeves open,1 the artificial arm being indicated indifferent positions by dot and dash lines;

. Fig. 2 is a side view of the artificial arm; Fig. 3 is a plan view; j 5 Fig. 4 is a side view in its bent position; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the upper end of'the arm; and r Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig.2.

The arm comprises an" upper arm section 1 and a forearm section 2, which are of rigid hollow construction, preferably of cast metal; Aluminum may beemployed, or another metal or alloy of proper strength and. not too great weight. With the sections of the arm made of shells of this character great strength can be secured, and the arm can be practically indestructible. I

The proximate ends of the sections-enter one into the other, and are suitably cut away for bending movement. They are connected by a transverse pivot pin 3 which passes through the overlapped walls at the two sides and across the interior. The pin has a head t at one end 'and is screw-threaded adjacent the head and at its other end to receive nuts 5, 6 and "7, the head and the nuts forming pairs of abutments at opposite sides of the pairs of walls, whereby a strong joint is produced. For further strength and solidity a spacer 8, preferably, though not necessarily, in the form of a ball, is placed on the pin in the interior of the joint, between the nuts 5 and 6. V

The top of the upper section 1 is formed with slotted openings 9 to receive straps by rable, comfortable and inexpensive," which. shallbe useful for ordinary purposes, and

means of which the arm is attached to the Y person. Rows of 'smaller openings 10,11 provide for sewing in the felt lining 12 and for ventilation. I

The forearm section can be rigidly braced to the upper arm "section'in variouspositions, by means the preferred form of which is about-to be described. i

A hasp hook 13'is pivotally supported on an eye 14 onthe upper arm section a short distance above the 'elbow joint, and-on the inner side with respect to this joint, that is to say the sidethat is inside the anglewhen the joint is bent. On the inner side of the forearm section there is a longitudinal series of eyes 15, so positioned as to be engaged selectively by thehook-end of the hook 13 when the arm is bent at various angles. The

hook. their forms arigid brace enabling the arm to sustain 'a heavy weight or to trans-- mlt a substantlal amount of'power in operations calling for a bent arm,"aswe'll as enabling light-er things to be done.

- The hook can be locked .to any one of the eyes 15 by a nut- 16, which screws onto a thread provided for the purpose'on the end of the hook. The extent of the thread is such that when the nut is screwed up the eye 15 will be clamped between the nut and the back of thehook, so that looseness is avoided.

When the hook 13 is not in use it is turned upward and engaged with an uppereye 17 on the upper arm section, where it can also be securedby the nut 16. The nut is retained against loss by a chain 18, in'one' end of which it is swivele-d, the other-end ofthe chain being secured to the eye 14 or other suitable point of attachment. At opposite sides of the upper arm sec tion, slightly above the joint, are eyes 19 to which are pivoted a pair of-hooks 20. These hooks are positioned to engage eyes 21 on the forearm section, when thcarm is straight or substantially so, for the purpose of holding the arm rigidly in this position and bracing it against lateral stress. In this condition the hooks lie somewhat back of 21 or 22 they are secured by nuts 23 on chains 24.

The forearm section terminates in a screw stem 25 to receive an artificial hand, such as one of the artificial hand forms disclosed in my application Serial No. 658,865, filed July 26, 1923. A hook 26 swung on an eye 27 on the inner side of the wrist portion of the forearm'section is provided for the purpose of engaging an eye on the hand, to keep it from unscrea ing. A chained nut 28 is provided to cooperate with this hook, after the manner of the other hooks and nuts;

:The hasp-hooks with nuts preferablyv employed herein as the .means for rigidly bracing the forearm section to the upper arm section in various positions are the subject matter of a patent numbered 1,468,861, granted to me September 25, 1923.

In order to stay the artificial arm as a whole against stressacting laterally outward from the body, and to relieve the wearers arm stump which is inserted in the upper section, a sling 2?);may be fastened to the upper arm section, to be tied about the wearers chest. A keeper 80 on thearm revents such slin :from slioaino u) or down.

It is advantageous to construct the joint between the armsections so as to' have a sufiicient amount of friction to hold the forearm section in any desired position relative to the upper arm section irrespective of the hooks when work requiring'eifort is not to be performed with the arm.

It will be understood that the hook supports and fastenings on the upper arm section should be applied in such a Way that the inner ends of those of them that may be at the region occupied by the arm stump will afford no projection on the interior.

In order to afford means of access to the braces and fastenings constituted by the hooks, eyes andnuts, both the shirt sleeve 0 and the coat sleeve 3) must be slit along the inner side. The slit in the shirt slecvc should be of considerable length for convenient operation. The slit in the coat sleeve can be closed by snaps 0.

"While the preferred embodimentof the invention and the best ways of using the same now known to me have thus been described, it will be understood that I do notwish to limit myself to the precise form and details. Y

, l Vhat vI claim as new is: a

1. An artificial arm, comprising an upper arm section and a forearm section of rigid hollow construction, a joint connecting the sections, hook and eye devices on the sections for rigidly supporting the forea in sec tion in various angular positions and other hook and eye devices on the sides of the sections for bracing them when straightened against lateral stresses.

r 2; An artificial arm, comprising an upper arm section, aforearm section, a joint connecting the sections, two hooks pivotally connected to one of the sections at opposite sides, and eyes upon opposite sides of the othersection, whereby the sections can be held rigidly and stayed against lateral stresses.

HARRIETTE E. HODGSON. 

